The gumchewing waitress
by cat in a basket
Summary: The scene from Deathly Hallows where Harry, Ron and Hermione hide in a cafe after they flee the wedding, told from the perspective of the waitress.


_A/N: This is the scene from Deathly Hallows where Harry, Ron and Hermione hide in a cafe after they flee the wedding, told from the perspective of the waitress. I know, the waitress had her memory modified, but what if she hadn't? What if she remembered?_

_Disclaimer: Even though I don't use any character names... I do not own Harry Potter (Though I wish I did!)_

I work in a cafe, and, to tell you the truth, it's not the sort of place that I'd actually choose to visit if I had the choice. On a good day, I'd call it dingy. On a bad day, I probably wouldn't call it anything so as not to risk getting fired or something. But the pay's alright, I guess, and I can't really be bothered looking for another job somewhere else. It is pretty boring though, and most evenings I'm the only one there because the other guy hired to work nights normally gets bored pretty early in the evening and leaves. But I'm fine on my own because hardly anyone ever comes in so it's not like I can't keep up with customer's orders. It's a good night if we even get a single customer. As I said, boring.

But there was this one night where something exciting happened, and when I say exciting I mean terrifying. I'm still not sure what it was all about.

It was late, and I remember I wasn't looking forward to leaving because then I'd have to walk past the jerks at the bar on the other side of the road. They'd been being really loud that night, and I could hear them shouting out at every girl that walked past. Morons.

So it was late, and there hadn't been anyone in all evening and I was about to start packing up when these two kids walked in. They looked old enough to have just left school, or it could have been their last year. Either way, they didn't seem comfortable about wandering around London at this time of night. What made me think I'd remember these two was the way they were dressed. They were such a mismatched couple. The girl had on this really fancy dress and was all fancied up as if she was going out to a dance, heels, hair, makeup, the works. The guy had shockingly red hair and looked like he was wearing last year's clothes, I could see quite a bit of pale ankle showing between his shoes and his trouser bottoms. Scandalous. Anyway, they came in, sat down in one of the booths, the girl ordered two cappuccinos, and I went off to make them.

They looked nervous, always looking back out the window as if they weren't meant to be there. Really suspicious, but I didn't think I had anything to be worried about.

I took them their drinks, then these two really big guys, workmen, came into the cafe. They went into another of the booths and I went over to take their orders. As I walked past the table with the two kids I heard the red-haired kid talking about the coffee "God, that's revolting," he was saying. I was pretty annoyed at that! I did agree, it _was_ disgusting, but I'd done my best. It's not my fault the mice that live in the walls have developed a taste for the coffee beans and my boss is too cheap to pay for traps. So I gave him a glare as I went by. And then the two workmen wouldn't even give an order, they just waved me away as if they owned the place. Huh.

After that things started happening really quickly. The workmen shared this look, then, at exactly the same time, they reached into their pockets, pulled out these sticks then turned around to face the two kids. Except, suddenly, there was now a third kid, a boy, with black hair and glasses, there as well! I had no idea how he got there, still don't. And there were all these jets of red light flying between the two groups, smashing everything in the shop. They hit one of the workmen, and he collapsed, then another must have hit me because I blacked out.

When I woke up I was lying behind the counter where we make the coffee and the kids were gone. And everything was fixed, I mean, the last thing I'd seen before I'd fainted, or been stunned or whatever, was one of those red things hitting one of the tables and it exploding, but now everything was all neat and tidy, or at least what passes for tidy in a dump like this.

And those two big guys were propped up in one of the booths, still unconscious. I was really scared, I didn't want them waking up with me in here to think I'd been the one who'd done that to them, so I marched outside and down to the bar and ordered the jerks there to come and carry these two guys out onto the street. I guess I must have seemed pretty angry, because they just did it, no heckling or anything.

So with those two lying outside on the footpath I closed the cafe, then left through the back, and I can tell you, I was glad to get home.

That was a crazy night, and I still have no idea what it was all about. I mean, why were they fighting, and where did the third kid come from? And how did everything get cleaned up so quickly? Whatever it was, I'm glad the kids got away; they'd looked so _hunted_ when they walked in.


End file.
